Lenai Alexis Wilkerson hails from Washington, D.C. where she attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, under the direction of Norma Pera. She graduated from the inaugural class at the University of Southern California as a Glorya Kaufman scholar with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Political Science.

Upon graduation, Wilkerson became a company artist with Ballet Hispánico, where she toured internationally for three seasons. With the company, she delved deeper into community engagement opportunities and has taught youth at institutions around the world. For the last two seasons, she was a corps de ballet dancer with Cincinnati Ballet, expanding her community engagement in organizations such as Black Art Speaks. Wilkerson has performed works by choreographers including George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Martha Graham, Barak Marshall, Azure Barton, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, d.Sabela Grimes, and Dwight Rhoden. Additionally, she has assisted Patrick Corbin in setting a Paul Taylor work for Miami City Ballet.

She has trained seasonally with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Bolshoi Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Jacob’s Pillow and with legendary ballerina Suzanne Farrell. Wilkerson was awarded the JarriTODOS dance artist grant in 2022, was a YAGP Top 12 finalist and was one of the seven 2016-17 dance scholars to be awarded a scholarship from Nigel Lythgoe’s Dizzy Feet Foundation. This past summer she was commissioned for a work with Queer the Ballet, where she had her choreographic debut in New York City. With aspirations to achieve more in life, she currently is in graduate school at The George Washington University to receive her Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership and Learning.

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